Leslie Barnes, who joined the Duke staff in July of 2006, serves as an Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Welfare.

Barnes, who was Duke's Director of Student-Athlete Development from 2006-11 before being promoted to her current position, came to Durham after spending four years as life skills coordinator at The Ohio State University.

Prior to arriving at Ohio State, Barnes was life skills coordinator/academic counselor at Utah State University (Sept. 2001-April 2003), was academic-athletic advisor/coordinator student-athlete recognition at Arizona State (Aug. 1999-Aug. 2000) and was the assistant academic counselor/intern at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (July 1997-July 1999).

Barnes is a native of Nebraska and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Nebraska Wesleyan in 1996. She also received a Masters of Education in Counseling/Psychological Services from Springfield College in 1998.